I stand beside Revan
by Saber Knight
Summary: Carth meets a strange, beautiful woman in a Cantina before Telos succumbs to the sith. And when he leaves this place, he never thinks he will see her again; He was wrong.
1. The First Time I Saw You

The air was filled with the smell of ale Carth found out when he entered the local Cantina one would find in the Refugee Sector on Nar Shadara. Even through he was in a war, activity by the sith had slowed down over a week ago. With Carth's fleet positioned nearby Nar Shadara, he and some others got some well earned leave.

Carth went in and sat down at a bar, all kinds of conversation reached his ears from his position. Women, alcohol, money, and everything else that customers talk about. Carth sighed and ordered some Corellian ale. He figured he could at least have a drink of ale during his leave, however, he didn't plan on getting too much to drink as he still was a soldier.

"Hey babe, how about you and m- *Hic* -e go to my place and have us *Hic* a little fun." He heard a drunken voice say next to him, he turned and saw a scrawny drunk of a man talking to a woman. The woman captivated Carth with her appearance. Long silky midnight black hair flowed down to her waist, held in place by an intricate black metal headband that circled behind her head from ear to ear. Seemingly flawless porcelian skin that appeared to be smooth accented her hair nicely. Black trousers were tucked into equally black boots. And a black long sleeved shirt tucked into the trousers, with the shirt also not revealing any of her collarbone. Fingerless gloves were on her hands as Carth could clearly see by the bottle being held in one. A black jacket was in her lap.

Even through Carth did not bother with such things, he did notice her slender figure and smallish breasts. Her lips were pink, natural or otherwise he did not know. The only thing he couldn't see were her eyes which were hidden by some long bangs.

"Go away." A cool, soft voice said in an authorative manner but at a low tone.

Carth was surprised to see that the drunkard actually straightened up a bit and walk away. Carth looked back at the woman to see her raise the bottle to her lips and raise her head to drink the rest of the liquid in the bottle. Carth looked at her eyes and saw that they were black, however, his glimpse of them was not enough to see what kind of emotion hid behind them.

"Refill it, Bartender." The woman said, putting the empty bottle on the counter. The middle-aged human Bartender nodded and grabbed the bottle. He turned around and filled it up from a jug of orange colored liquid. Carth knew not what flavor or what kind of drink it was as he had never seen orange colored alchol before.

He looked up at the HoloVision Screen and saw that it was telling news about recent battles between the Sith and the Republic. He sighed and though over how many had died, and how many more will die. His friends and fellow comrades, he had seen many of them die in battles. Both in space and on the ground.

"Your a Republic Soldier aren't you?" He heard a voice ask him. Taken off guard he nearly fell out of his seat but he managed to maintain himself. He looked over to the woman who had not bothered to look at him when she asked her question. "What... Do you think of the Sith?" She asked again.

Carth blinked before completely regaining his composure. "The sith are evil beings that have no sympathy or souls. They kill all of those who get in their way, women, children, innocents. They just mindlessly slaughter them with no heart, no emotion. Their leader, Revan... He is just the same as all of them." Carth said, making it short as he didn't want to wear her out.

"Why do you think Revan wants to destroy the Republic?" The woman asked, taking a drink from her refilled bottle of orange liquid.

"To take over the galaxy and wipe out all those who stand in his way, no matter who he has to kill." Carth said, finally taking a drink from his Corellian Ale.

"What's your name?"

"Carth, Carth Onasi."

Carth was about to ask her for her name but was unable to as she asked another question. "Why have you come here?"

"To relax, I have a bit of leave time so I came here to grab a drink or two, maybe play a little bit of Pazaak." Carth said. "You?" He asked, looking over at the woman.

She still did not turn to look at him when she began to speak again. "To relieve myself from my duties for a brief period of time before I resume them once again. It is a tiresome job."

Carth listened to her every word. "Whats your job? That is, if you don't mind me asking."

The woman's head lowered down. "I-" She began, but another drunken man approached her with more or less of the same words the last one used.

Before the woman could react, Carth had stood up. "Hey! Can't you see she doesn't want to be bothered? Get out of here!" He said with a high authoritave voice and a hand resting on his blaster.

The drunk took one look at him before staggering off, muttering something as Carth sat back down.

"T-thank you... Nobody... Has done that for me in a... long time..." The woman whispered in a soft tone.

Carth slightly blushed red before saying a standard issue reply and turning back to his drink. After a few minutes he spoke up. "Is something the matter?"

A minute of silence passed before the woman spoke up. "L-Love troubles... I have a man I love, but... When we both transferred to this new job... He just began to change and... Now, I don't even know who his is anymore, he comepletely changed..."

Carth listened, wondering if he shouldn't have asked. Not knowing what to say, silence is what passed for the next ten or so minutes. Finally, the woman stood up. "My name is Raven; and Mr. Onasi, no... Carth,-"

The HoloNet suddenly changed to an Emergency Broadcasting onto the HoloNews. "This just starts, Telos is currently being bombarded by the Sith!" The human announcer says.

"WHAT!" Carth yells out, standing up and having his stood fall to the ground. And as time slows down he hears the woman say something, whether to him, someone else, or herself, he knew not.

"You... Idiot..."

Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees the woman turn away, and finally sees what emotion was in her eyes.

Sorrow.

And then she was gone.

As Carth turned to storm off to his ship he heard the bartender calling for him to pay and telling him to take the left over orange alchol and the abandoned jacket. An angry Carth slammed down some credits and grabbed the two objects as he rushed out.

* * *

><p>En route to Telos, Carth took a drink of the alchol to try and find momentarily relief. However, a familair and strange and most unexpected taste filled his mouth and he spit it out in shock.<p>

"Orange juice!"

* * *

><p>Blood dripped to the cold metal floor of the Flagship's Bridge. The words sang over and over in his mind. Dreadful words, words that he never though he'd hear in that voice. As hate comepletely took control of his heart, Malak still heard those words.<p>

"I hate you!"


	2. Our Target Is Revan

A Sith Trooper fell unto the dry sand of the Tuscan Desert, his battle armor in shambles. The sun's heat rained down upon him, already making his mouth feel dry. The man looked up at the Jedi and Republic Commandos that stand before him. The lead Jedi, a young girl by the name of Bastila Shan, walked up to him. She, at the suggestion of one of her fellow comrades, had tried luring the Sith Trooper with her 'female assets' into an empty alley. The Sith, when first entered the alley, immiediately attacked Bastila. Luckily, a Republic Commando Captain was watching nearby and managed to save Bastila before she could sustain damage.

"I won't tell you anything, you filthy Jedi vermin!" The Trooper spat at her. He was one of the Elite Soldiers of Revan's Flagship: _The Dark Crimson_. The Trooper wore the crimson armor of a Sergeant, however, like all of Revan's Elite Troops, he was more skilled in combat than any other Trooper from any other Ship. The Trooper was defiant and still he would not provide the Jedi with nothing, no matter the torture they gave him. The Sith struggled against the rope bonds that bound his hands together, however, he was sent falling into the sand by Bastila's foot. As the man struggled to gain his footing, a Commando walked up to him and placed a blade against his throat. The Trooper growled but nevertheless stopped struggling against his captors.

Bastila walked up to the man, reaching out her hand until it was in front of his helmetless face. "You will tell me how to get aboard Revan's ship." Instead of the man obeying her mind control, he spat right in her face which made the blade go deeper into his throat, a few traces of blood running down his neck. Bastila wiped the spit off of her and fought to maintain and control her emotions. "So your immune. I suspected so, you are one of Revan's goons after all. But we have other ways to handle information." Bastila motioned over to a female Jedi standing nearby holding the Sith's helmet. "Sera, retrieve all the information out of his helmet that you can. He has to have some logs in there."

As Sera began to work on it, the man glared at Bastila. "Jedi scum, when you meet Revan... tell him, from me, 'See ya, pal, in heaven'. He'll know what it means..." Bastila looked with a confused expression on her face at the Sith just before he reeled back, kicked the Commando in the crotch, brought his hands over his hand with the sound of bones and pain, grabbed the Commando's blaster rifle, and as the Trooper took aim towards Sera, another Commando shot the Sith in the chestplate. However, the Sith's armor was still strong enough to sustain that one bolt. The Sith unleashed a bolt towards his helmet, effectively damaging most of it before he sustained another bolt, this one through the hole in his chestplate. As the man fell down to the ground, he grinned at Bastila. "See ya, pal, in... heaven..." His eyes closed right before he hit the soft sand.

"His last words sound lame..." Devon, a Twi'lik, said as he walked up to the dead Sith Trooper. "So, Sera, you alright?" The Jedi Knight asked as he turned to look at his comrade who was holding a smoking helmet in her hands. Sera nodded as she dropped the helmet and took out her datapad to see what she could find if anything remained. "Alright, got it, giving me the silent treatment." Devon sighed and looked around at the rest of his party. "So what do we do now?"

Bastila turned away from the dead Sith and walked over to Sera, also ignoring Devon. None of the Commandos said anything as they just stood in place, silently, and staring at sand that went on seemingly forever. The Jedi knelt down next to Sera who seemed to have found something amongst the ruin of a helmet. "Ma'am, there isn't much here, but it seems like he was the man in charge of overseeing some cargo being loaded on their flagship tomorrow at noon. It'll be an excellent oppurtunity to sneak aboard, there are also the security codes here for everything he has access for. And... there's alot of them."

Bastila stood up and nodded her head in approval. "Alright, alert the ambush fleet. We'll strike before they jump to hyperspeed."

* * *

><p><strong>The Next Day, At Noon<strong>

Bastila looked out from behind a crate, biting her lip as a problem had presented itself... _Several_ problems. First, the Sith were checking each and every crate. Second, they had several _squads _of Elite Troopers and a couple of Dark Jedi patrolling. "This is definetly not good, to think they provided this much security when they found out he was missing." Bastila whispered to her small group of comrades as she looked for a new way in. Looking at how the Sith were checking the crates, Bastila decided to check the crates for what their contents were. Luckily, the Sith had most of their cargo stored in a nearby warehouse which wasn't hardly even guarded except for the men who came to get the crates at the front of the warehouse. Moving into the back, Bastila, along with the help of the Republic Commandos, began checking every crate. To her satisfaction, several contained insufficient packaged foodstuff to fully fit the crate, enough for a person to hide completely under the foods. When she turned around, the Commandos were already climbing in with her fellow Jedi Knights watching them. "Alright, here's the plan."

* * *

><p>"Nothing in here either, just some MREs... The good kind." Bastila heard a man say as he and his fellows loaded it up. "Alright, close the lid and bring it aboard. No time to waste, Revan wants this done as soon as possible!" This time a woman's voice. "So snap to and double time it, Private!" Sounds of grumbling was heard as the men got back to work. What felt like a half hour later, which was actually five minutes, Bastila was outside of her crate inside the cargo hold breathing fresh air. As she waited, her companions soon began to regroup in the back of the cargo hold where she was. So far, none of them had been detected, the Sith must have never thought about them sneaking aboard under MREs and sometimes grenades. Six commandos and the four Jedi were what made the strike force. Six Hammerheads along with additional Frigates and Cruisers made the ambush force. Four Star Destroyers were what made the Sith Fleet.<p>

"Alright, we all know the plan from here. We wait here until the fleet jumps in, disables their Hyperdrives, and then we move in after Revan. Kill any Sith in your way, but remember that our target is Revan." She reminded her comrades who nodded as they remembered the plan. It was only a matter of time, and what they did as they waited to reveal themselves... was to meditate with the Republic Commandos playing pazaak. It did not take long for the Sith ships to ascend upwards until they broke the orbit of Tantooine. They then began to move towards a common used trade route where a carefully hidden EMP device layed in wait for them. Although the EMP was temporaily, for some reason it highly damaged Hyperdrives. Bastila and her fellow Knights broke out of meditation and readied their lightsabers. However, as the four ships neared it, Revan's flagship and it's escort both suddenly stopped moving forward and opened fire out into almost empty space. Malak's ships began to slow but they maintained course and payed for it as one of the turbolaser bolts finally hit the EMP device, and, although it's range was decreased due to this, it still managed to cripple Malak's ships who had strayed in close.

And then the ambush fleet arrived right above the Siths and descended upon them focusing fire on the disabled ships which soon restored their weapons and shields systems. The two fleets engaged in locked combat that turned worse as two additional Star Destroyers along with a complement of Frigates jumped in to support their leaders. Knowing that the time was upon them for them to move, Bastila and her party spranged out into combat only to face a few full squads of Elite Sith Troopers. Four squads, sixteen men and women. Bastila and her Knights led the melee charge into the group of Sith with the Republic Commandos bringing up the backup. Bastila didn't even get to lay her blade on a single soldier before they had drawn their swords. The soldiers were surprisingly tough, even for the Jedi Knights as they locked into a stalemate until the Jedi started using their force to quicken their own attacks and add more strength as offensive powers didn't work on the Sith due to some force-resistant equipment they wore. Finally, the Sith fell down under the combined power of the Jedi and Republic Commandos.

The strike force fought through the mass of soldiers that got in their way to the bridge, however, as they moved onwards, the Sith forces soon began clearing the way for them. It appeared that Revan knew his soldiers wouldn't be able to stop their advance. That all changed when they were in a corridor right in front of the bridge where stood a completely black armoured Sith soldier with three Dark Jedi with him. "You've managed to make it this far without any casualties, very impressive. However, you Jedi will go no further." The man turned to the Commandos as he continued to speak. "All of you, go, your business is with our forces on the bridge. My business is with Bastila." The Commandos were hesitant but Bastila urged them to go, she and her companions could handle these guys easily enough. But time was of the essence.

With the Commandos gone and out of the way, the Sith drew their vibroswords and lightsabers. "Time for you to die. For Revan!" The Trooper charged into the fray with two Sith Vibroswords in his hands, straight for Bastila. The Dark Jedi went for the others as Bastila locked into melee with the Trooper. Bastila blocked both of his swords as he lunged towards her, instead of holding his ground, the Trooper jumped back, circled around, and lunged again within moments of his first strike. Bastila managed to jump out of the way, however, he stabbed at her with his left handed sword. Bastila hit it off course with her lightsaber but had to immiediately counter another strike from the Sith. Bastila, seeing that the Trooper was relentlessly on the offense, decided to try to turn the tables and see how good he was on defence. She used the force to apply more strength to her blade as she swung and impacted against one of his swords. The force of it made him lose his stance and Bastila used this chance to kick him off the ground and try to slice him while he was in mid air. However, the Sith pushed off of a nearby wall while swinging with his right sword, knicking Bastila's shoulder.

Bastila charged when the Trooper regained his footing. The Sith, however, suddenly jumped away, out of combat, along with the only surviving Dark Jedi. "Revan's waiting for you Jedi~" The Sith said before a blast door shut in front of him and his companion. Bastila looked back towards the bridge to see it's door's open and two Dark Jedi standing there, garbed in much less appealing clothing than the ones the Sith Trooper had with him. Bastila could almost feel that these Jedi were much weaker than most of the soldiers on this ship. The reason for that, as she knew, was that these two must have been detachments from Malak for whatever reason. Bastila and her companions charged forward, their lightsabers ready.

"GAAAAH!" The Dark Jedi yelled out as Bastila sliced through his torso before it fell unto the ground, revealing the person they had come to kill; Revan. Republic Commandos lay dead alongside with the Sith Bridge Crew and a couple of Dark Jedi from Malak's forces. The Captain's body fell to the ground as Revan finished choking the man to death. Her companions joined her as they readied themsleves to face the Sith Lord. "You cannot win, Revan." Bastila told him as they prepared to face off against eachother. And just as they were right about to strike, explosions rocked the ship as turbolasers impacted against the hall. Sending many of the inhabitants falling to the floor, hard and violently. Bastila managed to mostly keep her footing, her comrades were not so lucky as was Revan also. Looking up, Bastila saw Revan laying motionless, his mask far enough off for a strand of black hair to be seen. Bastila crawled over to him and removed the mask. What she saw was not what she expected. There were no red eyes, no sithly pale skin, and Revan was not what he seemed to be. Bastila quickly layed the mask back on, letting go of a breath she had been unaware that she was holding in.

* * *

><p>Bastila layed Revan in the escape pod (Which was actually large enough to fit a small squad of soldiers) and prepared to shut the door, however, stopped when she saw the Sith Trooper they had faced earlier come in and collapse into a seat. No words in him, no energy in him. Bastila remained quiet as she closed the door and went to release the pod from the Star Destroyer. She then went to see out of the pod's viewpoint to see what was happening. What she saw was Malak's Flagship heading out of system while being pounded with turbolaser fire from both Republic and Sith batterys.<p>

"Malak has betrayed us." The Sith said after regaining some of his energy. Bastila looked at him as he layed a backpack by Revan. "Got you some extra clothes, pal. Just like you said to when this were to happen." He then turned to Bastila. "I have no doubt of what you are going to do to Revan, but his orders do not allow me to interfere. I will be on my way when we reach your Flagship, don't try to stop me. I can still fight and with the med pac going into effect, I'll be back in shape soon." Bastila didn't say anything as the pod continued on it's course, she was too tired to try to stop the Sith Trooper and her target was Revan after all. If the Trooper had no intentions of harming her or her comrades, she would not interfere. She sat down next to Revan and looked down at the Sith Lord.

"Revan... Who are you?"


	3. We Meet Again

**A/N: Unfortunately both of my KOTOR games do not work, so I will be having to go off of Video Walkthroughs... So this should be fun... Also, be aware, I will not be intentionally down-playing anyone.**

"I already have a jacket... This is too small anyway..." Carth sighed, folded the black jacket up, and placed it back into his footlocker. With that done, he looked out of the viewpoint and into the blue lights of hyperspace. The _Endar Spire _would be coming out of Hyperspace soon he knew. With nothing to occupy his thoughts with the jacket now put up, his mind wandered off to the memories of his deceased wife and son. He grimaced as he remembered the bombardment of Telos. He also remembered hearing how the Jedi Bastila Shawn had killed Revan and of the civil war amongst the Sith Forces. From what he had heard, Malak had betrayed Revan and Revan's forces did not take kindly to it. He knew that either a quarter of, a third of, or about half of the Sith Forces were aligned with Revan. He did not understand why they still resisted Malak when Revan was dead, but he did know they had been helping Republic Forces defend themselves against the Sith. It was also known that many Mandalorians were fighting alongside the Rebels (As those loyal to Revan had come to be known).

Carth opened up a minifridge next to him and took out a bottle of orange liquid, taking a gulp from it. He set it down on top of the fridge and stared at it for a moment. "Why can't I stop thinking about her..." The woman he had met at the cantina hardly ever left his thoughts. There was just something strange about her that he couldn't figure out. Not to mention she was drinking orange juice at a cantina. Carth sighed again and brought up the crew roster on his datapad. Reading through it, he found his eyes attached to one name in particular for no appearant reason. It was just a feeling. "Varen Fett?" He asked himself. "A Mandalorian?" Carth shook his head and put the datapad down. He stood up, grabbed his regular jacket, and headed off to the bridge.

* * *

><p>An explosion woke Varen Fett up, startling her from her slumber. She sprung to her feet and quickly took in her surroundings. However, more explosions stopped her from coming to a conclusion other than she was on a starship. Realizing that the ship was under attack, Varen looked down at herself to only see that she was wearing a black sleeveless turtleneck tank top and short shorts. Seeing a footlocker nearby, she hurried over to it and found inside of it her clothes along with a soldier's backpack. After donning her clothes, she grabbed a vibrosword and a heavy blaster from inside of the footlocker before turning around to look at the only entrance and exit in the room.<p>

As she approached the door, it opened revealing a white haired Republic Soldier. Seeing her fully awake and fully equipped made the man visibly startled for a moment before he began speaking. "We've been ambushed by a Sith Battle Fleet! The Endar Spire is under attack! Hurry up - we don't have much time!" The soldier motioned to the open door as he finished.

"Who are you?" Varen asked, resting her hand on the hilt of her vibrosword.

"I'm Trask Ulgo, Ensign with the Republic Fleet. I'm your bunk mate here on the _Endar Spire_. We work opposite shifts; I guess that's why you haven't seen me before. Now hurry up, we have to find Bastila! We have to make sure she makes it off the ship alive!" Trask looked back at the corridor he had come in.

"Who's Bastila?" Varen asked, keeping her hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Bastila's the commanding officer on the _Endar Spire_. Well, not an officer, really. But she's the one in charge of this mission. One of our primary duties is to guarantee her survival in the event of an enemy attack! You swore an oath just like everyone else on this mission! Now it's time to make good on that oath! I've heard all about your reputation: Elite combat training, tops in your class. It's no wander you wore handpicked for this mission. Word is the officers haven't seen a recruit with your kind of potential in twenty years. But all that potential doesn't mean a thing if you can't deliver when it counts! We're soldiers, we're trained for combat. Bastila's going to need men and women like us at her side during this attack!" Trask was obviously getting anxious to leave the room. "Now let's go!"

"Understood." Varen said, walking past Trask as she headed down the corridor. Not long was it before a voice came over the comms.

"This is Carth Onasi - the Sith are threatening to overrun our position! We can't hold out long against their firepower! All hands to the bridge!"

At the sound of his name, Varen stopped in mid stride as Trask began to go on explaining who Carth was. Seeing her halt, Trask put a hand on her shoulder. "Varen?" His voice seemed to be worried, not for her but for himself. His free hand gripped his blaster tighter.

Varen shook her head slightly before shrugging off his hand. "I am alright. Let's move out." She told him, walking towards the door at he end of the hallway.

"That door is locked, I don't have the codes to open it." Trask walked up to the door, flexing his fingers as he did so. "I'll have to slice into the access panel to open the door." He told her as he went about slicing.

The door opened, revealing a Republic Trooper shooting across the corridor at a pair of Sith Troopers. Before the duo could attempt to help him, the trooper took a round to the chest and dropped down to the ground. "These Sith must be the advanced boarding party! For the Republic!" He yelled out as he took cover by the corner and opened fire on the Sith with his blaster pistol. As he forced the Sith to find better cover, Varen dashed into the open and let loose two bolts toward the two Sith. Both of the Sith Troopers fell to the ground with charred armor and flesh.

Varen knelt down by the bodies and looted them of a few credits and a med pack, leaving their cheap weapons alone. When she was done with this, she stood back up and walked over to the closed door at the end of the corridor. She pressed the panel to open it before raising her pistol. As the door opened, she caught a Sith Trooper off guard with a round to his head, immediately killing the trooper and making his helmet useless. The other trooper, shocked at seeing his comrade alive one moment and dead the next, did not react before he got two rounds to his torso.

Trask, having only gotten his pistol halfway raised, gave her a suspicious look, wondering how she was so quick to react, Varen passed the look off as she moved over to loot some grenades off of a dead Republic Soldier. With Trask still standing in the doorway, she looked at him over her shoulder. "Loot the place." She told him as she placed three frag grenades in her backpack and one on her belt. Reluctantly, he obeyed her.

After looting the dead bodies of the Sith and acquiring more credits along with another med pack, Varen waited for Trask as he put on a Longsword before giving her what he had found. "These will be useful once we get off the Spire." He told her, walking over to the door and opening it. "We'll be able to buy some clothes and food with the credits. We can use the med packs when we get into fights and get injured." The two of them walked down the corridor, hearing the sounds of blaster fire before an explosion silenced them. "Get ready, there's bound to be more Sith." He told her as they rounded the corner.

Across from the two of them, three Sith Troopers were standing with their rifles aimed at them. "Die Republic scum!" The middle one yelled out to them as Varen picked a frag off her belt and threw it at them. "This is retribution for killing the Sergeant isn't it?" The trooper on the right said, remembering their Sergeant they had killed with a frag grenade along with two Republic Troopers. An explosion silenced the troopers from speaking again. Two more Sith Troopers appeared from behind the dead Sith. Two rounds silenced them before they were able to pull the triggers on their rifles.

"Your a quick shooter, Varen." He said, suspicion laying under his voice.

"I'm a Mandalorian after all." Varen replied, not bothering to look back at Trask as she knelt down by a dead Sith and picked up his double-bladed vibrosword. Unfortunately, the sword was ruined by an explosion. She set the sword down before standing back up and looking at Trask to see him already looting the dead bodies. "We need to keep moving. The Sith will eventually destroy the ship."

"Agreed." Trask told her, walking up to her and handing her what he had found. "One of ours was well paid or had nothing to spend his money on. "I counted a hundred credits on this chip."

Varen took the credit chips away from him and put it in her backpack as they continued down another corridor. The sound of a lightsaber battle prevented her from replying to her. Both of the Republic soldiers gripped their blasters tighter. She opened the door in front of her, revealing an ongoing battle between a Sith and a Jedi.

"It's a Dark Jedi! This fight is too-" Trask was cut off by a blaster bolt that hit the Dark Jedi in the temple, making his dead body fall against the floor, leaving a shocked Jedi Knight standing with her lightsaber posed to block a strike. "Much for us..." Trask finished, turning to look at Varen who was aiming her pistol, with one hand, at where the Dark Jedi was standing.

"A pre-occupied Jedi is easy to kill. One round to the exposed temple and nearly everyone will die." Varen told him, looking back at the shocked Jedi only for an explosion to happen right where she was standing, killing her before she could react. "Jedi are easy to kill." Varen repeated, walking over to the dead bodies as two Sith Troopers popped out of hiding and received a couple of rounds in return.

Trask followed her, not minding the Sith Troopers as he had gotten used to Varen's quickness to react. "Damn, we could have used her help." He frowned when he saw Varen kneel down beside her and start reaching a hand into her robe. "Where exactly are you looking?" He asked, perplexed as to why Varen would be looking there.

Varen reached into the Jedi's bra, grabbing ahold of something solid and pulling it out to look at the object. It was a credit chip, most likely with quite a few credits on it. "These robes don't have pockets. Women usually wear bras." She told him before going through the contents inside of the Jedi's belt, looting a vibration cell off of her. Discreetly, she looted the Dark Jedi's still intact lightsaber off of him, placing it inside of her backpack as Trask walked over to the nearby door.

"The bridge is just beyond this door," Trask started, not wanting to continue their previous conversation. "We better use our melee weapons. There isn't much room on the bridge and it will be suicide to use a blaster in close quarters." He told her, putting his blaster in his holster and taking out his long sword. Varen walked up to him, taking out her vibrosword and readying to strike.

Trask opened the door, two Sith turning to face it with their own long swords lowered. However, the two Sith did not think of Varen quickly rushing forward, slicing through the first Sith's torso as she passed him and slashed her sword diagonally across the second Sith's torso before he could raise his sword and block the attack. Multiple explosions rocked the front part of the bridge, killing four combatants who had been fighting eachother.

Trask walked into the room, looking around it to find Bastila but failing to find her. "Bastila's not here on the bridge, they must have retreated to the escape pods. "We'd better head that way too. The Sith want Bastila alive, but once she's off the ship there's nothing stopping them from blasting the _Endar Spire _into galactic dust!"

Both soldiers hurried through the bridge, not taking time to loot the dead. Going through two doors, Trask suddenly stopped before gripping his sword tighter. He eyed the door across the room as he walked over to it. "There's something behind here." He told Varen as she walked over to him. He opened the door, revealing a Dark Jedi with a double-bladed lightsaber. "Damn! Another Dark Jedi! I'll try to hold him off! You try to get to the escape pod! Go!" He walked into the room, grimacing as he looked death right in the eye.

"Trask Ulgo." He looked back at Varen, wondering what she was doing. "My name is Raven." His eyes widened as a realization dawned upon him. He made for the door as he saw her walking away. Before he could make it, an explosion shut the door and jammed it.

"DAMN IT!" He yelled out, pounding his fist against the door. He stopped pounding the door after a couple of seconds, listening to his breath and the hum of a lightsaber as his mind went into overdrive. "I... have to stop her... I have to... live..." He turned back to the Dark Jedi, a flame igniting within his heart. "I WILL NOT DIE HERE!" He slammed into the Jedi as he brought his sword down upon his opponent.

"FOR THE REPUBLIC!" Was one of the many sounds heard across the _Endar Spire_.

* * *

><p><em>"This is Carth Onasi on your personal communicator. I'm tracking your position throughout the Endar Spire's Life Support Systems. Bastila's escape pod is away. You're the last surviving crew member on the Ender Spire. I can't wait for you much longer, you HAVE to get to the escape pods!" <em>Carth's voice caused a very small smile to form on Raven's face. _Carth..._

Glad to hear a familiar, and friendly, voice, Raven continued on her trek through the _Endar Spire_, rounding a corner to see a Sith Trooper before he was shot down with a couple of blaster bolts. Continuing on, she came across two other troopers that were just as easily killed as the first one.

_"Be careful, there's a whole squad of Sith Troopers on the other side of that door. You need to find someway to thin their numbers."_ Varen walked up to the door, laying her hand against the access panel._ "You could reprogram the damaged assault droid to help you if you have enough repair parts." _The door opened, revealing the squad of Sith Troopers led by one in red armor. _"Or you could use computer spikes to slice into the terminal and use the Endar Spire's security systems against them." _Two Sith were killed within a split second. The other three returned fire as Raven took cover behind the door. When she felt a pause between the incoming rounds, she rolled out of cover and killed two more Sith, leaving the red armored one still alive. The trooper withdrew a black hilted vibroblade and charged her.

Raven holstered her heavy blaster pistol and waited until the Sith was right in front of her before raising her hand.

* * *

><p>The door to Carth's right opened up, making him turn to look at it and be astonished at what he saw. Standing before him was someone he'd thought he'd never meet again. "Raven?"<p>

She gave a short nod as she walked over to the last escape pod. "Let's move out."

"Y-yes." He said, still surprised to find such a familiar, and unfamiliar, face onboard the _Endar Spire_. He grabbed his backpack and headed in after Raven.


	4. Learning About Eachother

_Revan walked down the bridge of Malak's Capital ship, looking around at each and every officer on board and noting the sweat running down their heads as they went about their business, completely aware of Revan's presence. He stopped a few yards away from Malak who stood with his back to Revan._

_"Master." Malak said, turning to face Revan, neither having to look up nor down at him. "What business brings you here?"_

_"You bombarded Telos." Revan said, his voice deep and calm._

_"I gave them a chance to surrender, they chose not to." Malak's face betrayed no emotion, showed no fear._

_"You murdered innocents... And for what?" Revan stepped forward._

_"To show the Republic that we are strong. To show the Republic that the strong determine if the weak shall survive or not. To show the Republic that the weak. Will. Die. And because of this display of our power, the Republic shall fear us. They will be afraid of us."_

_"I gave you strict orders not to do **anything **while I was away. You disobeyed me." Revan took another step forward._

_"The Republic made a move,"_

**_Lies..._**

_"so I retaliated. Surely, master, yo-" A flash of red was seen, taking off Malak's jaw._

* * *

><p>Carth woke up from the dream, the <em>vision<em>, he had seen. _Where am I? _He asked himself, taking a look around the room he found himself in. He stood up off the bed, taking notice of a black-garbed woman standing in the room. _That's... that's Raven... _"You were thrashing about in your sleep. A nightmare? No matter, it took you long enough to wake up."

"How long was I out?" Carth asked, rubbing the back of his head, putting the vision aside for now.

"You've been slipping in and out of consciousness for a couple of days. You hit your head on the way down in the escape pod. Remember the _Endar Spire_?"

"Yeah, I do. Where are we?"

"We're in an abandoned apartment on the planet of Taris. We should be safe for the moment. I had to drag you out of the escape pod. By the time the Sith arrived on scene, we were long gone."

"I guess I owe you my life, thanks." He told her, walking over to a workbench where he saw his blaster pistol.

"Don't worry about thanking me." Raven told him, watching him pick up his blaster. "The Sith Fleet is orbiting the planet and have declared martial law and they've imposed a planet-wide quarantine. I'll need your help to find a way off this planet."

"And to rescue Bastila." Carth said, noting that Raven left that part out.

There was a pause before she answered. "She... will be of help... The Sith will be looking for her if they haven't already found her, no one will be looking for a couple of _soldiers _like us. We'll be able to move about freely, that is, if you have a change of clothes." She eyed his Republic jacket.

"I have a combat suit in my backpack." Carth told her, moving over to the corner of his room where he saw his backpack. "Any idea where to start looking for Bastila?"

"While you were dreaming, I did some scouting about. There are reports of a couple of escape pods crashing down into the Undercity. We should get prepared, won't do us any good if you get yourself killed. It's a dangerous place down there, so I've been told."

As he put on the combat suit, not caring if she was watching him or not, he asked a question that had been gnawing at the edge of his mind since he woke up. "I didn't see your name on the crew roster."

There was no pause before she answered. "They misspelled my name. Instead of Raven Fett they put Varen Fett."

"Your a Mandalorian?" He asked her, turning to look over his shoulder at her to see her back facing him.

"Yes. I can understand why you want to know more about me, we will be spending more time together in the future. But now is not the time. We can use this apartment as a base and pick up equipment and supplies as we go along. Come on, let's move out." Raven grabbed a vibrosword laying on another bed in the room and put it on her baldric on her back.

They walked out of the apartment, only to hear a man shouting. "Alright you alien scum, everybody get up against the wall! This is a raid!" There was a Sith Trooper, out of the standard armor, flanked by two droids. All of them were holding blaster rifles. In front of the trio were two aliens, one of which began speaking.

"There was a patrol here just yesterday, and they found nothing! Why do you Sith keep bothering us?" The alien was immediately gunned down by the Sith Trooper.

"Now every-" The trooper stopped speaking when he felt something hit the back of his foot. He managed to look down at it before the grenade blew, killing the whole trio. Fortunately, the alien was standing far enough away not to get hurt by the blast.

Raven and Carth walked up to the alien who stood looking at his dead friend. "Poor Ixgil. He should have never talked back to the Sith. Thankfully you were here to step in and help us, human. This isn't the first time the Sith have come in here to cause trouble for us, but hopefully it will be the last."

"Someone will come searching for this patrol." Raven told him, bending down to loot a few credits off of the dead Sith along with his blaster rifle and a couple of grenades.

"Don't worry about the bodies. I will move them so it looks like they were killed elsewhere. That should throw the Sith off the track. With any luck, they won't be bothering us again for a while."

"We're moving on." Raven walked past the alien with Carth following her. She stopped in front of a green Twi'lek who gave a warm smile to her. "Larrim, give me your energy shield and a heavy combat suit. My friend can use them." She held out several credit chips to the merchant who took them and replaced them with the two items she ordered.

"Come back anytime." Larrim told Raven, smiling at the two of them as they walked off.

"Carth, take these and go back to the apartment to change. This should keep you safe." Raven told Carth, handing him the items.

"What about you?" He asked her, looking at the equipment she was giving him.

"I'm light on my feet and quick with a weapon." She told him before turning her back on him. "Meet me outside. We'll be heading to the Cantina soon."

* * *

><p>"Something's bothering you Carth." Raven told him, turning around to look at him as they stopped their walk to the local Cantina. "How about you tell me some more about yourself."<p>

"Me?" Carth stopped, wondering how she had known. "Well, I've been a starpilot for the Republic for years, seen more than my share of wars. I fought in the Mandalorian Wars before all this started. With all that I've never experienced anything like the slaughter these Sith animals can unleash. Not even the Mandalorians were that senseless! My homeworld was one of the first planets to fall to Malak's fleet. The Sith bombed it into submission and there wasn't a damned thing the Republic forces could do to stop them!"

Carth saw her eyes widen before she quickly turned her back on him. "I'm sorry, Carth. This must be painful."

"I'm just a soldier; I go where the fleet admirals tell me to. I follow my orders and I do my duty. I-Its just..." Carth sighed before continuing. "Doesn't seem right that doing that means I failed them! I didn't!"

"Them...? The people of your homeworld?"

"N-no... t-that's not what I mean... I'm sorry, I'm not making much sense am I? You probably mean well with your questions but I'm just not accustomed to talking about my past that much. At all, actually. I'm more used to taking action, keeping my mind focused on the business at hand. So let's just do that. If you have more questions ask them later." With that, Carth ended the conversation.

They continued walking in silence, coming to the entrance for the Cantina after passing by a merchant's shop. Before they could enter the Cantina, Carth decided to speak up. "You never did tell me your job."

Raven stopped walking, turning to look back at Carth as she thought of what to tell him. She couldn't tell him she was a Sith Lord that had controlled entire fleets and armies of questionably loyal soldiers. But she couldn't tell him something that would make her have to explain to him how she was so quick to react in combat situations. "I was a mercenary. A Mandalorian mercenary." She finally said after a couple seconds pause.

Carth frowned, not exactly an approvable job profession to him. "You were hired muscle? What made you decide to join the Republic?"

What made her decide to join the Republic? Hard question, she despised the Republic for siding with the Jedi. The Jedi... Bastila... "On a job, I had a run in with Bastila. Wasn't very pleasant. After a long fight, she spared my life and convinced me to join the Republic so that I wouldn't become a criminal, since I was working for someone of illegal status at that time. I doubt Bastila will remember me and I doubt we have fond memories of eachother. Please do not mention my pass to her."

Carth's frown grew deeper as he took in that information, leaving the last two parts of it alone. "What about this man you wer-"

"Don't," Carth froze, a cold chill going through his body. "speak of him. If you have more questions, save them for later." With that, Raven walked into the Cantina, leaving Carth behind until he finally managed to move his muscles again.

"I guess I shouldn't have asked." He told himself before rushing after the woman.


	5. First Secrets

Raven looked behind her as Carth came rushing up to her. She didn't say anything to him, instead, she merely kept on walking into the Cantina, letting him follow at his own pace. They stepped out into the central core of the Cantina, Raven stopping as she decided whether to go left to the dueling arena or right to where the bandstand and dancers were. After reaching a decision, she made her way neither to the dueling arena nor the bandstand but over to where the bar was located directly opposite of the entrance.

Entering the bar, Raven saw what she wanted to see; a man wearing a silver scarf around his neck and drinking his ale with not only his pinky finger up but also his third finger. Before making her way over to the counter where the man was, she turned to Carth and held out a credit chip. "Take this and buy you something to drink." She told him, putting the chip into his palm before he could reject her generosity.

Without giving him time to reply, she made her way over to the counter. Before she could get there, however, a redhead stopped her as she came too close to her table. "Where did you get those clothes - trash compactor in the lower city?" Raven stopped, her right hand discreetly going to the grip of her pistol. She turned her head to face the brat who had just spoken. "And where are those drinks we ordered?"

"Be quiet." Raven told her, narrowing her eyes at the brat. Carth walked up to her, leaning over to whisper in her ear.

"Watch what you say, I've got a bad feeling that this spoiled brat could cause us more trouble than she's worth."

"Why is the help here so incompetent? One word from daddy and I could get you fired." The brat told Raven, crossing her arms as she waited for her to apologize.

Instead of apologizing, Raven took a step forward towards the brat. "Listen, I don't work here, got it?"

"How dare you speak to me like that! Daddy's going to hear about this!" The brat walked off, leaving the room just as a waiter delivered their drinks. The other woman at the table didn't say anything, nor did the waiter.

Before Carth could say anything like 'I have a bad feeling about this', Raven walked over to the counter and took a seat beside the man wearing the scarf. Carth took a seat by her, asked her if she wanted a drink, and at the answer of 'no' he ordered himself one.

"A spider bit me yesterday, but it got away before I could kill it." _Malak has betrayed me and has escaped._ Raven said to no one in particular, causing Carth to look at her. Before he could think of something to say, the man sitting beside her replied.

"Spiders, evil creatures aren't they? I don't like them either." _I'm on your side, Lord Revan._

"This spider was distinctive, I think I would know which one it is by just seeing it again. Maybe you can keep an eye out for it? It's missing two legs and has a white mark across its back." _Will you join me?_

"Yeah, If I see it I'll make sure to kill it. Maybe my friends can help me out." _I'm with you and so are my comrades._ The man put his drink down and paid the bartender. "If we catch it, where should I meet with you to show its corpse?" _Where do we rendezvous?_

"The Upper City apartments within the same district as the Sith Base." _Dantooine._

The man lifted an eyebrow, pretending to look at a strange alien. "Alright, if you say so." _We'll have to be careful, that place is overrun with Jedi. _"How long do you think it will take for the spider to show up?" _When do we depart?_

"Maybe a couple days or so, it likes to move around." _A couple of weeks, Malak is not patient. _"Better make sure it doesn't eat too well." _Don't let him get Bastila._

"Can't stop it from eating, I don't even know where it is." _I don't know where Bastila is, sorry. _"Anyway, see you around. My friends want me back at camp." _We'll be joining up later, got to get the troopers ready._

Carth couldn't comprehend what had just happened. They were speaking a normal conversation about a spider but it felt like a secret conversation happened right beside his own two ears and directly in front of his own two eyes without any other thing visible on the empty horizon. He dismissed it, figuring that there's no way a person could have a secret conversation with another person they just met.

The man turned to leave, and was starting to walk away when Raven asked him a single, simple question. "Know where we can earn some credits?" Raven looked over her shoulder at her comrade, a Sith Commando.

He turned his head to meet her eyes and grinned. "The dueling arena. The only person worth being mentioned is Starkiller, he's a Mandalorian." With that, the man left the cantina, heading towards wherever he was currently calling home.

"Carth." Carth perked his head up away from his drink at the mention of his name. Looking over at Raven, he saw her looking at him with her usual passive look upon her face. "We're going to the dueling arena. You can cheer on the sidelines." For some reason, the image of him in a cheerleader's outfit popped into his mind. He coughed some of the ale back into the glass as he tried to recover from the abrupt and vivid image. When he was better, he found that Raven was already leaving the room. He quickly hurried after her.

"Hey Raven, I was wondering."

"What?"

"How would I look in a cheerleader's outfit?" As he wanted, Raven stopped walking and slowly turned around to face him. Although her face was the same as always, her eyes had a glint of - amusement? Confusion? Carth grinned at her.

"I get it, I won't be embarrassed to have you be seen cheering for me so go all out." Raven's glint of... something... was replaced with something that reminded Carth of sadistic pleasure or enjoyment - he wasn't sure. But he was sure about one thing and that was that he was now expected to be cheering for Raven. Great, just great.

Deciding to try and get cheerleading off of his mind, Carth asked another question. "Where did that spider bite you?" He hadn't seen any bites on her, but her clothing did cover a lot of her skin.

"D-Don't ask me that." Carth blinked, a bit surprised to find her stuttering although there was something that felt off about it. But he let the odd feeling slide, deciding that the spider had bit her somewhere embarrassing. He began to whistle in a low tone, following behind Raven as they entered the dueling arena.

Over to there left, by a viewscreen, was a young couple apparently arguing. "I can't believe we couldn't get arena tickets for this match! Now we have to watch the duel on the viewscreen!" The young woman was complaining to the guy across from her, most likely her boyfriend or husband.

"Who cares? It's Duncan and Gerlon fighting; it's not like we're going to miss anything good."

"Shh, it's about to start so quit complaining and watch the viewscreen!"

Carth followed Raven as she walked over to one of the free viewscreens, mildly interested in what was going on.

_"Ladies and gentlemen, I draw your attention to the dueling ring. Here, two combatants will battle for your viewing and gambling enjoyment." _In one part of the ring, was a young man missing a few fingers. _"Now, I hope all your bets are down, because we're ready to roll! In this corner, I give you - Gerlon Two-Fingers!" _On the other side was an aged man. _"And over here, looking to climb the ranks yet again is the ever persistent Deadeye Duncan!"_

Each combatant stepped forward several paces before stopping. To Carth, it was clear who was going to be the winner. Gerlon was young, fresh, and quick. Duncan was older, slower, and did not seem to have enough experience. Something made him glance at Raven as an eerie feeling went down his back.

She was grinning.

Looking back at the viewscreen, Carth saw the two combatants draw their blasters at the same time. Gerlon was quick, but Duncan got off the first... and last shot... Looking at Duncan, Carth saw a fire sprouting in an unbelievable fashion. The man had seemed old and much weaker than Gerlon a moment ago, but something was certainly happening to make him stronger.

Outside interference.

The ring was silent, the room they were in was silent. Apparently, everyone had expected Duncan to lose straightaway. _"Amazing! Gerlon is down! Gerlon losing to Duncan? Is this a sign that his injuries are catching up to him or is the persistent Deadeye finally working his way up into the ranks!?"_

As the announcer went on rambling, Carth hurried after Raven as she walked away from him.


End file.
